By Michael Church
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Carlos Queiroz is looking to rebuild the confidence of Qatar’s players after the disappointment of last year’s World Cup in an attempt to build a “dynasty” capable of transforming the Gulf state into a leading power in the global game.
After cutting ties with Iran, the former Real Madrid coach was appointed to replace Spaniard Felix Sanchez, who departed in the wake of Qatar’s limp group-stage exit at their home World Cup.
The intense preparations the players were subjected to in the run-up to the World Cup had clearly taken its toll and Queiroz said he would try to reinvigorate them before they defend their Asian Cup title, again at home, early next year.
“We have a group of players that have been playing in the national team and loaded with camps and games, camps and games,” the 70-year-old Portuguese coach told Reuters by phone.
“They’re mentally exhausted, a lot of those players, which is the worst fatigue in football, when you get bored and you have nothing inside you.
“Mental fatigue is something that you can’t deal with unless you give the players some mental rest in order to refresh.”
Qatar had never qualified for the World Cup prior to their appearance last November as hosts and successive losses to Ecuador, Senegal and the Netherlands saw them fall at the first hurdle.
The results were the worst by a host nation at a World Cup and were in stark contrast to the high hopes triggered by Qatar’s impressive Asian Cup triumph in 2019.
Queiroz has already started to refresh the squad during the current international window, excluding many who featured at the World Cup in favour of youth for their guest appearance in the next month’s Gold Cup in the United States.
“We need to reset also,” Queiroz added. “We need to start to prepare the present and the future. It’s impossible to sustain success or reach the goals and dreams of the future if you are going only with 13 or 14 players. That doesn’t exist.”
The initial goal is a successful defence of the Asian Cup in January but Queiroz also has more ambitious longer-term targets.
“It’s an excellent opportunity to move forward and bring in a new generation,” he said.
“Because what is my main goal? It is to help the Qatar Football Association to understand that it is not only to prepare for a new generation, this is about preparing a dynasty of players, to prepare a culture to play for the national team.
“It is one way to create platforms, new solutions, new highways to bring a dynasty of players, one team after another to be ready to compete in the Asian Cup in January, to compete at the World Cup in 2026, in 2030, in 2034 and so on.
“I’m only concerned with educating some new players in the winning process, to educate them in what I call the art of winning.
“It’s one thing to win, but it’s another to win consistently and be solid, and win repeatedly until you are able to be champion.”
(Reporting by Michael Church, editing by Nick Mulvenney and Peter Rutherford)
